Leighton Meester Likes Her Men 'Dark and Bad'

If Leighton Meester and her TV alter-ego Blair Waldorf ever met, they might end up fighting for the affection of Gossip Girl bad boy Chuck Bass.

“I think guys who are rebels and make their own rules are appealing,” the actress, 22, tells Seventeen magazine for its March issue. “I don’t want to tame anybody. I want them to be dark and bad.”

Hard-working Meester, however, isn’t looking for an outright troublemaker. “[G]uys who are a little bad – and by bad, I mean they’re not like constantly around – I consider gold,” she explains. “Guys who are unavailable are actually a dream come true for me because I’m unavailable all the time. It’s great they’re not down your throat.”

She has been dating actor Sebastian Stam since 2007, but tells the magazine, “I haven’t ever really relied on relationships with guys. They come around and it’s cool, but it’s never been a big thing. I guess I’ve just been really distracted by work.”

The Florida native, whose parents had brushes with the law before she was born (Meester’s mother gave birth to her while serving a prison sentence), also reveals what she learned from her mom and dad’s mistakes.

“It made me realize that you can’t judge anyone – especially your parents – for what they’ve done in their past, because people change,” she says.

Meester has also learned not to be a real gossip girl. “I’ve noticed some people get very enthralled with people bashing,” she says. “Sometimes people can’t help themselves. But I find a way [to] back out and not talk about other people.”

So as one of Hollywood’s hottest young actresses, how does she handle being talked about?

“Even when people are so judgmental about what you wear or your weight,” she says, “you just have to step away and be like, ‘I’m a normal, fine human being.'”